Beyond the Regulatory Pivot: Bybit BBU Head Maps ‘Trillion-Dollar’ Institutional Crypto Path

Yoyee Wang, head of Bybit’s Business‑to‑Business Unit, argues that U.S. regulatory clarity alone is insufficient for institutional crypto adoption. She also cautions that tokenization faces hurdles in delivering real value but foresees tokenized real‑world assets becoming standard collateral tools by 2030, enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

Closing the Operational Execution Gap

As the digital asset landscape undergoes a seismic shift following the 2025 U.S. regulatory pivot, Yoyee Wang—the newly appointed head of the Business-to-Business Unit (BBU) at Bybit—is signaling that “clear rules” are merely the foundation. In a recent discussion, the former Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) veteran argued that for institutional capital to truly scale, the industry must move beyond legal frameworks and adopt the rigorous operational and treasury standards of traditional finance (TradFi).

Indeed, the year 2025 marked a watershed moment for the industry. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. effectively dismantled long-standing barriers, such as the rescission of SAB 121, which previously hamstrung banks from custodying digital assets. While these moves have cleared the legal “fog,” Wang notes that a secondary challenge remains: the operational execution gap.

Beyond regulation, she asserts that institutions require operational frameworks that mirror traditional financial markets, citing standardized onboarding, credit assessment and counterparty risk controls as essential prerequisites rather than optional features for the world’s largest asset managers.

According to Wang, the next phase of the crypto-institutional evolution will be defined by three critical pillars consisting of governance transparency, treasury compatibility and central clearing structures. She believes these elements will collectively increase capital efficiency and trading capacities on a tremendous scale.

Under Wang’s leadership, the BBU is already championing off-exchange custody and tri-party settlement models. This allows institutions to hold their assets with regulated third-party banks while maintaining live trading credit on Bybit, effectively removing the exchange risk that has historically deterred large-scale participation.

“We are building a system where the boundaries between digital and traditional assets are removed by design,” Wang explained. “This is ‘The New Financial Platform’—a global, always-on ecosystem that treats blockchain as infrastructure rather than just an asset class.” For institutional investors, the “holy grail” of digital asset integration is not just regulatory approval, but the ability to manage capital as efficiently as they do on Wall Street. However, the crypto industry is currently sitting on a massive “execution tax” caused by fragmented liquidity.

Need for Netted Clearing and Cross-Market Integration

Wang pointed out that it is currently impossible for major exchanges to recognize a user’s positions on competing platforms, meaning long exposure in one venue cannot offset short exposure in another. This fragmentation hinders institutional clients from taking larger positions, not only due to risk management constraints but also because of stress management concerns. During periods of on-chain congestion, these technical uncertainties make it difficult for firms to manage funds across various exchange positions effectively.

Nevertheless, the BBU head believes that as top crypto exchanges enter the TradFi trading world by listing tokenized stocks, commodities and forex, the necessity for central clearing becomes even more urgent. She argues that establishing central clearing across both crypto and traditional finance will be the catalyst that enables the industry to win the next trillion dollars in institutional flows.

In her written response to questions on the state of real-world assets ( RWAs) from Bitcoin.com News, Wang outlined a landscape defined by immense potential for capital efficiency, though she cautioned that an obsession with technology often overlooks the fundamental need for buyers and liquidity. She identified better collateral utility, faster settlement and access to previously inaccessible markets as the primary levers that will fundamentally change the institutional game.

Despite the optimism, Wang remains candid about the hurdles that likely keep many projects in the pilot phase. She warned that while it is relatively simple to tokenize an asset, it is significantly more difficult to operate that asset and deliver actual value. She noted that many TradFi veterans approach tokenization with excitement but fail to ask if a tokenized version of an asset is actually more attractive to their existing buyers, or if a new buyer base even exists.

Looking toward the year 2030, Wang foresees a radically different landscape defined by a “human-institutional structure” augmented by AI, trading bots, and autonomous robots. In this future, she expects tokenized RWAs to become a standard part of institutional collateral toolkits, utilized primarily for their superior yield and margin efficiency.

FAQ ❓

• What shift defines 2025 for crypto? U.S. reforms like rescinding SAB 121 cleared banks to custody digital assets.
• What does Yoyee Wang say institutions need?
  Beyond regulation, they require TradFi‑style standards in onboarding, credit, and risk.
• What pillars guide the next phase?
  Governance transparency, treasury compatibility, and central clearing structures.
• How is Bybit’s BBU addressing risks?
  It promotes off‑exchange custody and tri‑party settlement to remove exchange exposure.